The present invention relates to cartridge magazines for firearms and in particular to a magazine assembly supporting removable cartridge storage limiting devices aka “plugs” which are supported in the magazine to temporarily reduce the maximum number of stored cartridges as long as the plug is fitted to the magazine.
Firearms such as rifles and shotguns are available in a variety of types, styles, calibers and gauges. The construction, cartridge size, caliber/gauge, and cartridge capacity of such arms vary depending upon the type of intended use, e.g. military, law enforcement or sporting.
Cartridge magazines for shotguns are typically the most limited and for pump or automatic shotguns typically contain from 5-12 rounds. Federal and state regulations however frequently specify that while in the field the weapon can contain only three shells. These regulations exist especially for migratory waterfowl. Plugs have therefore been developed of adapted from plastic pins, wooden pins, tree branches or the like to mount in the shotgun magazine to reduce the longitudinal storage space and thereby limit the number of shells that can be inserted into the magazine. Such plugs typically are positioned within the bore of a resistance spring mounted in the magazine.
Rifles in contrast and until recently have had no regulatory restrictions on the numbers of rounds that can be supported in a weapon's magazine. Most clips or magazines for pump or semi-automatic sporting rifles customarily contained 3 to 10 rounds in addition to a chambered round. With the growing popularity and use of semi-automatic, military type rifles however many sportsmen replace a typical original equipment manufactured (OEM) magazine designed to contain 4 to 10 cartridges with a high capacity magazine that might contain 20 to 30 cartridges. Multiple magazines may also be fastened to each other for example to permit a flip mounting of a spent magazine for a fresh/full magazine. High capacity magazines most typically are used in practice shooting venues although can be found in the field.
With the growing popularity of high capacity rifle magazines many states, municipalities and governmental regions (e.g. CA, CT, NJ, NY, MA, MD, HI, CO and D.C.) have passed laws to restrict the numbers of cartridges that can be contained in any rifle magazine attached to the rifle such as while hunting. The number of legally permitted cartridges contained in any magazine in the field can therefore vary over a wide range. It is the responsibility of the weapon owner to ascertain the particulars of these restrictions to assure compliance with the regulations.
The present invention was accordingly developed to facilitate compliance of sporting rifles with mandated regulations. The magazines of the invention are constructed to selectively tailor or adjust (i.e. reduce) the storage capacity of a high capacity rifle magazine to hold less cartridges than permitted without modification. The cartridge storage capacity of the novel magazines can therefore be tailored to meet legal requirements for field use with the placement of a suitable plug in the magazine housing, yet accommodate unrestricted target use without having to purchase multiple magazines of differing storage capacities.
The inventive magazines are constructed to support elongated plugs that permanently or detachably project from either or both of base and/or cartridge follower plates found in magazines adapted to different models and calibers of weapons. One construction of the inventive plug is permanently affixed to or adapted to semi-permanently attach to a magazine base plate. The plug piece is suspended within the bore of a resistance spring between the base plate and a moveable cartridge follower plate. The cartridge follower plate is shaped to depress into the magazine housing and align the cartridges inserted into the magazine for proper feeding into the firearm chamber. The plug defines a lower limit of movement to the follower plate and a reduce cartridge storage space.
Another construction of a plug containing magazine permanently or semi-permanently secures a plug piece to project or depend from the lower or interior surface of the follower plate. The depending plug is fitted to strike the base plate to again limit number of cartridges that can be stored in the magazine. In yet another construction, plug pieces of suitable lengths can project from both the base and follower plates and interact to control the magazine storage space.
In lieu of the plug piece striking the base and/or follower plates, the magazines can also be constructed to include flanges, protuberances, recesses or other surfaces that interact with the plug piece to restrict the travel distance of the follower plate and thereby the available internal cartridge storage space. In all instances and whether semi-permanently mounted or formed as part of the base and cartridge follower plates, the present plugs mount within the magazine to limit the depression of the cartridge follower plate and restrict the physical cartridge storage space within the magazine. The present plug configurations are particularly configured to modify the magazine storage capacity to hold only the maximum number of cartridges permitted by pertinent regulations/laws.